A selection of letters to the editor. Have your say by clicking the link at the bottom of this page. Please also see letters rules at the bottom of this page.
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Technology has become a part of
our everyday lifestyle.
We are now in the Information Age and out of the Industrial Age. We need to bring technology to our schools so our children are exposed to it for their future in the workforce.
It is expensive for such a low-income-earning area but schools need to adopt a proactive approach.
DANIEL MOORE
Rotorua
That idea of the compulsory iPads and touch tablets in schools sticks in my craw.
If they're to be compulsory, the schools should be supplying them, by leasing them and giving students access year by year.
Every three years, the lease ends and newer technology is leased in its place.
Best of all, there can be no charges to students or families, as the Department of Education still has a standard policy that if it's compulsory, the school carries the cost.
I'll tell you all about school fees, class trips and homework, next February - a different set of rip-offs all parents need to know about.(Abridged)
LYNNE STREET
Rotorua
My heart and aroha go out to the whanau who have lost loved ones in the recent wave of tangihanga throughout Te Arawa.
The loss can be crushing and so it is with suicide.
It is a devastating blow, the repercussions will resonate for many years.
Having experienced suicide within my own whanau, I wish no family had to go through the overwhelming grief of suicide and how it penetrates the very essence of the whanau.
Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell in his article of July 20 asks, "What else can we do?".
In this time of grief, let's adhere to the whakatauki: waiho I te toipoto, kaua I te toiroa (let us keep close together not wide apart).
Your hard line stance is no way to treat the whanau that remain.
You say, "If a child commits suicide, let us consider not celebrating their lives on our marae - perhaps bury them at the entrance of the cemetery so their deaths will be condemned by the people".
Instead of negative condemnation, let's put into action a more positive approach to suicide prevention.
Maybe you could look at prioritising Maori mental health and creating greater access and availability to suicide prevention services.
Ensure services are co-ordinated around the needs and realities of whanau or review the effectiveness of current services.
I'm sure if you look hard enough there will be more strategies we can implement, but at the end of the day, only we can fix it.(Abridged)
GRACE AHIPENE HOETE
Re "Mana Party makes play for Rotorua votes", kia ora Bernie and fellow supporters, keep up the good work.
It has been 50 years since we last played indoor basketball and cricket for Kaingaroa and Galatea.
THOMAS PIKIA
Brisbane, Australia
Regarding your recent story about "Pink and White Terraces model gifted to Rotorua".
For an insight into the true fate of the Pink and White Terraces I suggest for you to look at this website: thepinkandwhiteterraces.info
I have been researching this project for the last 10 years and would like to see history corrected, not fantasised.
HERBY FITZGERALD
Levin
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